Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Stockstill looking forward to fall football camp
7/15/2021 6:30:00 PM | Football
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Coach Rick Stockstill has been waiting for the 2021 season for a long time.
With so many new faces across his Blue Raider program, both on the field and in the coaches' offices, and the sour taste of a challenging 2020 campaign, Stockstill has been ready to hit the ground running in August camp for months now.
As the camp start date of August 5th sits just three weeks away, GoBlueRaiders.com sat down with the coach entering his 16th year at the helm of Middle Tennessee to chat about the final days of summer workouts, and who's already making an impact on campus.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
How does it feel to have a full summer with your team after the shortened preseason brought on by COVID last year?
It's been good. We got out of school in May, and I always give them May off so they can go home. And then everybody came back on June 6th, including the freshmen that we signed.
Their work ethic, their attitude, everything's been really good, very positive. I've been very pleased with what they've done. Coach (Matt) Hickmann and his staff have done a great job. I like where we are right now, we've got two-and-half weeks to go before we report (for camp). The big thing now is to continue to get in as good a shape as we can in these last couple of weeks. And then you've got to practice your way into football season.
On the mental side of the game, getting your schemes in place, how is that process coming along after the spring and into the summer?
Last year, we didn't have spring practice, obviously. We went home for Spring Break and never came back until June, and then it was 25 guys coming this week, 25 guys coming the next week, spread out throughout the summer. So you never really had your full team together until we started in August. And then we had quarantined guys.
But we had a really good spring. We've got some new guys obviously. And some true freshmen last year that didn't have a summer. I was going back through last year's schedule and doing our schedule for this year. And last year, the first two days had to be in shorts, then next two days would be in shorts and shoulder pads, and then the next day in full pads. Well, we didn't put on pads for the first nine days of because there was that question of "are we even going to play?" And then the unknown of which team we're playing? Playing Duke? No, we're not playing Duke. Playing Troy? No, not playing Troy. Then finally playing Army.
Just the continuity of everything right now, we're in a lot better place mentally.
What's the focus in the weight room during the pre-camp summer period?
Everything we do in the weight room is position specific. There's some carry over, where the quarterback is going to the same thing as the defensive tackle. But there are some things that the defensive tackle is not going to do that the quarterback is going to do, as an example.
Overall, we're trying to create as much strength as we can. We don't eat very good in the summer because there's nothing open and we don't have a training table. So we're just trying to maintain and keep as much weight on as we can, improve our overall strength and flexibility, and obviously improve our conditioning.
But until you lean your 300-pound body on another man's 300-pound body, and you run into each other and your body won't develop that callus that you've got to practice your way into. For these last couple of weeks, we're just trying to get everyone to that point healthy.
There are a lot of standout freshmen in the trenches and youth all across the team. How are they coming along in the pre-camp process?
We have 48 scholarship players that are either going to be either true freshmen or redshirt freshmen. That's half your team! So we are young at some positions. But I like where we're at. Offensively, there's some really good players in the trenches that are young. And we added a couple of transfer guys (Netori Johnson and Jamari Williams) that are going to provide some maturity and are good players. And then defensively, most of them have played a little bit. Some have played more than others. But I like where we're at in the trenches on both sides of the ball. We have good players, we're just not as experienced as some other teams that we'll play.
You've had a lot of transfers come into the program across the spring and summer. Who are some of those players who are standing out ahead of camp?
Bailey Hockman (NC State) has done a really good job at quarterback so far. Amir Rasul (Florida State) and Martell Pettaway (West Virginia) at running back both joined the program last season, but opted out due to COVID for legitimate reasons and our back now. So you kind of count them as new guys because they came in January 2020, so they didn't have a spring practice, and then when camp started, they weren't here. So they're almost like new guys because they haven't been around until this January. Izaiah Gathings, the receiver from Gardner-Webb, I'm really excited about him. And two lineman, Netori Johnson (Georgia) and Jamari Williams (Arizona) have done a great job.
Those were the main guys on offense, and defensively we signed the two junior college guys, Jurriente Davis and Deonte Stanley from Hutchinson CC, and then the transfer from Houston Baptist, Tra Fluellen. You've got a couple of guys there, and we signed a kicker, Alex Usry from Charleston Southern.
I feel like we filled some holes that we had. Because this past recruiting class was difficult to scout. You're basing your evaluation off film, and I never trust film. I always trust my eyes. And if you can't see them play, if you can't see them in camp, if you can't see them personally, sometimes you look at film and see something that's not there. That's why we only signed eight high school kids. But I like them, they've been here and I love their attitude. They're everything that I hoped they were going to be.
Finally, Blue Raider Blitzes are right around the corner as MTSU hits the road to interact with fans around the mid-state area. How excited are you to get back out there after playing last season without fans in attendance?
I can't wait! I spoke in Smyrna last week, and I'm ready to go. One, to get that taste out of my mouth from not having a good year last year, and two, because while we're not back to normal, we're a heck of a lot closer than what we were this time last year. I like our team, I like our leadership where we're at right now.
I always say that there are four phases to a football team. And each team is different. When we started here in January, the winter workouts were phase one. We did a great job there. Spring practice is phase two. Had a good spring where we implemented some new things. Phase three is this summer conditioning. And the fourth phase of developing your team is your August camp. So we're almost through phase three and starting phase four.
So I can't wait! We start August 5th. I'm so freaking ready to go. I'm hungry and I've got a dadgum huge chip on my shoulder. And I can't wait to go out there and get this team going.
